Escape to Potter's Cove, Prudence Island

Midweek at Prudence Island is the quintessential place for a getaway. Usually there are few if any other boats in the anchorage known as Potter's Cove. On weekends the cove is filled with boats with the occasional raft up of six to eight boats on one mooring. This is a popular weekend destination because the cove is smack in the center of the bay and a stones throw away from several area marinas.


Potter's Cove takes on the appearance of an entirely different anchorage during the week. A few day trippers show up for lunch and a swim but very few spend the night.
We arrived on a sunny Monday afternoon after sailing down the bay from our home port. Our goal this week was to work on getting our affairs in order for our upcoming voyage to the Bahamas. It rained all afternoon on Tuesday which was a fine time to make necessary phone calls, work on the iPad and tie up loose ends. By late afternoon we were the only remaining boat in the anchorage. It rained hard and the sky looked ominous but Simple Life's cabin was cozy.
Wednesday dawned brightly with a good weather forecast expected. We had a few choices on the agenda for the day's "goals and objectives." Maybe we should take a walk ashore, or how about quohogging? Within a few minutes Joe our "activities coordinator" was rummaging around in the aft locker. He was looking for his clamming shovel which was my gardening shovel that mysteriously went missing a couple of years ago. When it was located it was settled. We were going ashore to go clamming for soft shelled clams which are also called "steamers."


This activity is done onshore in the mud whereas quohogging for hard shelled clams is done in waist deep water also in mud. Both are similar romantic activities that woman dream about.
The sport of clamming has a slight learning curve until your groove is found but, once that has been established it's quite habit forming. It seems that just when the decision has been made to quit and return to the boat another clam is found. Then once that one is found, another squirt up from the mud. Well there must be more where that one came from. We dug for a couple of hours and found all sizes and certainly enough for a meal. We finally came to an agreement. It was time to stop return to the boat and give the remaining hidden clams a pardon.


Within a short time our day's catch was steamed to perfection. It's hard to beat an appetizer of freshly dug steamers, a great sunset and the anchorage in Potter's Cove!



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Location:Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island